CMA Intermediate · Operations Management and Strategic Management · Operations Planning
A manufacturer arranges its machines so that all lathes are in one section, all drilling machines in another and all milling machines in a third, and jobs travel between sections as per their individual routing. Which layout is this?
This is a process (functional) layout, because similar machines or functions are grouped in departments and each job moves between them according to its own routing. It suits low-volume, high-variety work, unlike a product layout, which follows one fixed sequence of operations.
- AProduct (line) layout
- BProcess (functional) layoutCorrect
- CFixed-position layout
- DCellular layout based on part families
Explanation
Grouping similar machines or functions together, with jobs moving according to their own routes, is the defining feature of a process (functional) layout. It suits low-volume, high-variety production. A product layout would instead arrange machines in the sequence of operations for one product.
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